COL.  K.  G.  INGERSOLL’S 

VINDICATION 


THOMAS  PAINE 


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BOSTON,  MASS.: 

PUBLISHED  BY  J.  P.  AEENDUM, 

PAINE  MEMORIAL  BUILDING. 

1877. 


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liinertisEiiiEiit. 


THE  BOSTON  INVESTIGATOR 

IS  PUBLISHED  EVERY  WEDNESDAY  MORNING, 

At  Paine  Memorial  Building*,  Appleton  Street, 

Boston,  Mass. 

BY  J.  P.  AIENDUAI. 


HORACE  SEAV^ER,  Editor. 


TEI^lVrS,  S3-50  iPEEl.  J^1^1SrTJlS/£^ 


“  The  Liberty  of  the  Press,  and  the  Liberty  op  the  People, 

MUST  STAND  OR  FALL  TOGETHER.’*  —  Hume. 


The  “BOSTON  INVESTIGATOR”  x^tiS  established  as  a  free, 
liberal  paper,  in  1830,  by  Abner  Kneeland  and  others.  It  was 
designed  as  a  medium  for  the  discussion  of  many  questions  closely 
related  to  human  progress  —  questions  which  received  only  an  ex 
parte  examination  from  the  religious,  priest-ridden  world.  It  has 
shared,  in  many  respects,  the  fate  of  all  Reform  journals;  and  has 
struggled  with  desperate  perseverance  against  obstacles  and  diffi¬ 
culties  that  have  crushed  innumerable  stronger  establishments.  It  is 
now,  emphatically,  a  FREE  PAPER,  being  open  to  “  Church,  State, 
and  Laity,”  upon  all  questions  coming  within  its  professed  range. 

Our  past  course  must  be  a  guaranty  for  the  future,  and  we  shall,  to 
the  best  of  our  ability  and  means,  seek  to  open  the  public  mind  to 
the  discussion  of  those  vital  questions  of  reform  which  affect  the 
welfare  of  man.  . 

We  hold  that  religious  bondage  is  unworthy  of  the  human  mind,  ^ 
and  in  place  of  it  we  shall  strive  to  substitute  the  empire  of  reas<  n 
and  enlightened  self-interest. 


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O)^ 


A  VINDICATION 


OF 


THOMAS  PAINE 


IN  REPLY  TO 

The  New  York  Observer, 


ROBERT  G.  INGBRSOLL. 


To  argue  with  a  man  who  has  renounced  the  use  and  authority  of 
reason,  is  like  administering  medicine  to  the  dead. 

TnoMAs  Paine. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

J.  P.  MENDUM,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

1877. 


e. 

PHTi. 


> 


THE  PUBLISHEE’S  PREFACE. 


THOMAS  PAINE. 


The  name  of  this  illustrious  Revolutionary 
Patriot  has  been  a  text  from  which  the  bigoted 
portion  of  the  clergy  have  preached  abuse  and 
slander  for  a  long  series  of  years;  and  most  of  the 
religious  papers  of  the  times  have,  in  their  syco¬ 
phancy  to  the  priesthood,  reiterated  and  repeated 
the  abuse  and  shameful  falsehoods.  No  matter 
how  formidable  or  truthful  have  been  the  replies 
made  to  their  false  stories  and  malignant  asser¬ 
tions,  they  have  never  had  the  candor  to  admit  a 
reply,  nor  to  make  any  apology  for  the  abuse  be¬ 
stowed  upon  his  name,  nor  given  any  proof  of  the 
truth  of  any  of  the  stories  made  up  and  circulated 
by  them  against  the  great  and  illustrious  dead. 
Their  motto  has  indeed  seemed  to  be,  ‘‘If  the 
truth  of  God  hath  more  abounded  through  my  lie 
unto  his  glory,  why  yet  am  I  also  judged  as  a  sin¬ 
ner?’'  And  as  if  determined  that  the  gospel  should 
be  sustained ‘and  propagated  by  (2?/^  means,  they 
have  not  hesitated  to  lie  for  the  glory  of  God,  and 
have  abused  the  name  of  Thomas  Paine  as  one  of 
the  means;  supposing  that  such  a  course  would  be  . 
a  sufficient  reply,  instead  of  examining  his  works 


I 


PREFACE. 


and  answering  the  arguments  contained  therein, 
against  the  supposed  authenticity  of  the  Holv 
Bible. 

Year  after  year  the  clergy  and  their  supporters 
have  repeated  their  false  stories,  and  as  often  as 
their  trutliless  missiles  have  fallen  in  our  way, 
they  have  been  candidly  examined  and  replied  to: 
but  not  one  instance  that  we  are  aware  of,  has 
occurred  where  our  replies  or  the  replies  of  any 
liiberal  have  been  noticed  or  given  a  fair  hearing 
by  those  who  have  defamed  Thomas  Paine. 

And  to  such  lengths  have  these  slanders  been 
carried,  that  our  very  eloquent  and  talented  lec¬ 
turer  and  efficient  writer.  Col.  R.  G.  Ingersoll,  de¬ 
termined  if  possible  to  silence  these  calumniators, 
made  a  liberal  offer  of  one  thousand  dollars  in 
GOLD,  to  any  person  who  would  prove  that  these 
base  charges  and  assertions  had  any  foundation  in 
truth.  The  iV.  Y.  Editors,  not  knowing 

the  strong  determination  of  Col.  IngersoW,  pj'etend- 
ed  to  produce  evidence  to  substantiate  these  charges 
first  denying  that  they  had  met  the  Colonel  with 
abuse.  But  if  they  had  supposed  to  silence  the 
eloquent  lecturer  in  this  way,  they  most  surely 
‘‘reckoned  without  their  host;^’  for  the  exhaustive 
vindication  in  the  following  pages  must  convince 
every  candid  reader  that  the  vindictive  and  ma¬ 
licious  stories  which  have  for  so  many  years  been 
used  to  frighten  the  timid  and  redound  to  the  ben¬ 
efit  of  the  church,  were  fabricated  by  enemies  of 
Mr.  Paine,  and  kept  in  circulation  by  the  pious 
frauds  who  flourish  all  over  our  country,  until 
nearly  every  one  is  familiar  with  these  false  death¬ 
bed  scenes  of  Paine. 

With  some  parties  alluded  to  by  Col.  Ingersoll 
in  his  Vindication,  we  were  personally  acquainted, 


PREFACE. 


Ill 

especially  with  Mr.  Woodsworth,  having  enjoyed 
his  company  on  several  occasions  at  our  Paine 
celebrations.  He  always  asserted  that  Paine  was 
not  an  intemperate  man  —  that  lie  died  with¬ 
out  any  sign  of  regret  at  the  great  part  he  had 
acted  in  writing  the  Age  of  Reason.  We  asked  Mr. 
Woodsworth  on  one  occasion,  if  there  was  any 
trutli  in  the  story  told  of  Paine  calling  on  Jesus 
to  help  him?  ‘‘No!”  replied  the  old  gentle¬ 
man,  with  much  emphasis.  “  But,”  we  asked, 
“was  there  no  ground  at  all  for  the  assertion  ? — 
Is  it  possible  that  such  a  story  could  have  origi¬ 
nated  without  any  foundation  whatever  .^  ” 

“Well,”  replied  Mr.  Woodsworth,  “I  will  tell 
you  the  origin  of  that  story,  as  1  believe  it.  Mr. 
Paine  had  been  sick  many  months,  and  from  long 
confinement  to  his  bed,  had  become  very  sore, 
which  caused  him  considerable  pain.  When  he 
was  moved  1  was  sometimes  called  in  to  assist  in 
changing  him  from  the  bed  he  had  occupied  all 
night  to  one  freshly  made.  Two  or  three  morn¬ 
ings  before  his  death  I  was  asked  in  for  this  pur¬ 
pose,  and  as  we  placed  him  on  the  other  bed, 
he,  looking  me  very  keenly  in  the  eye,  exclaimed, 
‘Oh  !  Jesus,  how  you  hurt  me  I  ’ 

“  Nothing  more  was  thought  of  it  by  his  attend¬ 
ants  than  that  it  was  an  exclamation  occasioned 
by  great  bodily  pain.  I  went  from  the  sick  man’s 
house  to  a  neighboring  grocery,  and  there  some  one 
asked  if  I  had  been  in  to  see  Mr.  Paine  ;  and  on 
being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  inquired  how 
he  was,  to  which  I  replied  that  he  was  very  low, 
and  told  the  little  incident  as  above  related.  Some 
parties  overheard  the  conversation,  and  I  pre¬ 
sumed  went  out  and  repeated  it  as  near  as  it  had 
been  heard.  Not  long  after,  the  story  was  circu- 


PREFACE. 


iv 

lated  that  Thomas  Paine  just  before  his  death 
called  on  Jesus  I  Thus  von  understand  the  oriRin 
of  that  story  ;  reported,  no  doubt,  innocently  by  the 
listener,  who  had  not  heard  the  whole  of  our  con¬ 
versation,  but  told  it  as  near  as  he  heard  it,  and 
being  often  repeated  by  different  persons  has  be¬ 
come  like  the  cloud  seen  by  tlie  Prophet ;  at  first 
not  bigger  than  a  man’s  hand,  it  has  spread  over 
the  whole  religious  community,  for  the  fanatics  to 
entertain  their  gossip-loving  hearers  with.” 

In  December,  1846,  we  were  sent  for  to  visit 
New  York, -at  the  request  of  Judge  Thomas  Hert- 
tell,  on  some  important  business,  and  during  our 
stay  at  his  house  the  conversation  turned  on 
Thomas  Paine  and  his  habits.  Mrs.  Herttell  told 
us  that  she  knew  Mr.  Paine  very  well;  that  when 
she  was  a  girl,  living  with  her  uncle,  Dr.  Young, 
Paine  was  frequently  a  visitor  at  the  house;  but 
never  was  it  once  intimated  that  he  was  an  intem¬ 
perate  man,  nor  did  his  appearance  indicate  that 
he  was  addicted  to  the  excessive  use  of  ardent 
spirits. 

Walter  Morton,  Esq.,  one  of  the  executors  to 
Paine’s  will,  thus  speaks  of  his  firmness  as  re¬ 
gards  his  religious  views,  which  should  be  conclu¬ 
sive  to  establish  the  fact  that  Paine  did  not  re¬ 
cant,  falter,  or  tremble  at  the  approach  of  death  : 

‘Mn  his  religious  opinions  he  continued  to  the 
last  as  steadfast  and  tenacious  as  any  sectarian  to 
the  definition  of  his  own  creed.  He  never,  indeed, 
broached  the  subject  first,  but  to  intrusive  and  in¬ 
quisitive  visitors,  who  came  to  try  him  on  that 
point,  his  general  answer  was  to  this  effect : — ‘  My 
opinions  are  now  before  the  world,  and  all  have 
an  opportunity  to  refute  them  if  they  can.  I  be- 


mEFACE. 


V 


lieve  them  unanswerable  truths,  and  that  I  have 
done  great  service  to  mankind  by  boldly  putting 
them  forth.  I  do  not  wish  to  argue  upon  the  sub¬ 
ject  now.  I  have  labored  disinterestedly  in  tlie 
cause  of  truth.’  I  shook  his  hand  after  his  use  of 
speech  was  gone  ;  but  Avhile  the  other  organs  told 
me  sufficiently  that  he  knew  me  and  appreciated 
my  affection,  liis  eye  glistened  with  genius  under 
the  pangs  of  death.” 

We  here  leave  the  subject  with  Col.  Ingersoll 
and  the  Neio  York  Observer^  hoping  our  readers 
will  peruse  both  sides,  and  then  decide  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  slanders  against  Mr.  Paine.  To  those 
who  are  aware  of  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  the 
memory  of  Thomas  Paine  for  the  great  services  he 
has  rendered  the  American  Republic,  we  would 
say,  in  closing  these  remarks,  that  we  have  been 
instrumental  in  having  erected  in  Boston  a  hand¬ 
some  and  useful  edifice  as  an  appropriate  and  de¬ 
served  monument  to  his  name  and  memory  ;  and  ^s 
as  there  remains  a  large  debt  on  the  Paine  Memo¬ 
rial,  we  earnestly  call  upon  all  his  friends  to  help' 
us  pay  it  off.  Contributions,  large  or  small,  will 
be  most  thankfully  received,  and  honestly  appro¬ 
priated  to  the  object  of  freeing  Paine  Memorial  of 
debt,  and  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  the  Liberals 
of  the  country  as  a  permanent  Temple  for  the 
development  and  maintenance  of  Free  Thought 
and  Free  Speech,  as  well  as  a  fitting  tribute  to  the 
life  and  services  of  the  ‘‘Author-Hero  of  the 
American  Revolution,”  the  great  political  and 
religious  reformer  of  his  age,  the  conqueror  of 
kingcraft,  priestcraft,  and  superstition,  and  the 
world-renowned  champion  of  universal  mental 
liberty,  Thomas  Paine.  J.  P.  M. 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


“  To  argue  with  a  man  who  has  renounced  the  use  and  authority  of 
reason,  is  like  administering  medicine  to  the  dead.” — Thomas  Pai^^e. 


Peoria^  (IlL,)  October  8,  1877. 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  N.  Y.  Observer: — 

Sir: — Last  June  in  San  Francisco,  I  offered  a  thou¬ 
sand  dollars  in  gold — not  as  a  wager,  but  as  a  gift — to 
any  one  that  would  substantiate  the  absurd  story  that 
Thomas  Paine  died  in  agony  and  fear,  frightened  by  the 
clanking  chains  of  devils.  I  also  offered  the  same 
amount  to  any  minister  that  would  prove  that  Voltaire 
did  not  pass  away  as  serenely  as  the  coming  of  the 
dawn.  Afterwards  I  was  informed  that  you  had  ac¬ 
cepted  the  offer,  and  had  called  upon  me  to  deposit  the 
money.  .  Acting  upon  this  information,  I  sent  you  the 
following  letter: — 

Peoria,  {III.,)  August  31,  1877. 
To  THE  Editor  of  the  New  York  Observer: — 

I  have  been  informed  that  you  accepted,  in  your  paper,  an 
offer  made  l)y  me  to  any  clergyman  in  San  Francisco.  That 
olfer  was.  that  1  would  pay  one  thousand  dollars  in  gold  to 
any  minister-  in  that  city,  who  would  prove  that  Thomas 
Paine  died  in  terror  because  of  religious  opinions  he  had  ex¬ 
pressed,  or  that  Voltaire  did  not  pass  away  serenely  as  the 
coming  of  the  dawn. 


4 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


For  many  years  religious  journals  and  ministers  have  been 
circulating  certain  pretended  accounts  of  the  frightful  agonies 
endured  hy  Paine  and  Voltaire  when  dying;  that  these  great 
men  at  the  moment  of  death  were  terrified  because  they  had 
given  their  honest  opinions  upon  the  subject  of  religion  to 
their  fellow-men.  The  imagination  of  the  religious  world  has 
been  taxed  to  the  utmost  in  inventing  absurd  and  infamous 
accounts  of  the  last  moments  of  these  intellectual  giants. 
Every  Sunday  School  paper,  thousands  of  idiotic  tracts  and 
countless  stupidities,  called  sermons,  have  been  filled  with 
these  calumnies. 

Paine  and  Voltaire  were  both  believers  in  God — both  hoped 
for  immortality — both  believed  in  special  Providence.  But 
both  denied  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures — both  denied  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  While  theologians  most  cheerfully 
admit  that  most  murderers  die  without  fear,  they  deny  the 
possibility  of  any  man  who  has  expressed  his  disbelief  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  Bible,  dying  except  in  an  agony  of  terror. 
These  stories  are  used  in  revivals  and  in  Sunday  schools,  and 
have  long  been  considered  of  great  value. 

I  am  anxious  that  these  slanders  should  cease.  I  am 
desirous  of  seeing  justice  done,  even  at  this  late  day,  to  the 
dead. 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  evidence  upon  which 
these  death-bed  accounts  really  rest,  I  make  to  you  the  fol¬ 
lowing  proiDOsition : — 


First. — As  to  Thomas  Paine:  I  will  deposit  with  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Peoria,  Illinois,  one  thousand  dollars  in 
gold,  upon  the  following  conditions:  This  money  shall  be  sub¬ 
ject  TO  your  order  when  you  shall,  in  the  manner  hereinafter 
provided,  substantiate  that  Thomas  Paine  admitted  the  Bible 
to  he  uninspired  book,  or  that  he  recanted  his  Infidel  oiiin- 
ions — or  that  he  died  regretting  that  he  had  disbelieved  the 
Bible — or  that  he  died  calling  upon  Jesus  Christ  in  any  re¬ 
ligious  sense  whatever. 

In  order  that  a  tribunal  may  be  created  to  try  this  question, 
you  may  select  one  man,  I  will  select  another,  and  the  two 
thus  chosen  shall  select  a  third,  and  any  two  of  the  three  may 
decide  the  matter. 

As  there  will  be  certain  costs  and  expenditures  on -both 
sides,  such  costs  and  expenditures  shall  be  paid  by  the  de¬ 
feated  party. 

In  addition  to  the  one  thousand  dollars  in  gold,  I  v»'ill  de¬ 
posit  a  bond  with  good  and  sufficient  security  in  the  sum  of 
two  thousand  dollars,  conditioned  for  the  payment  of  all  costs 
in  case  I  am  defeated.  I  shall  require  of  you  a  like  bond. 

From  the  date  of  accepting  this  offer  you  may  have  ninety 
days  to  collect  and  present  your  testimony,  giving  me  notice 
of  time  and  place  of  taking  depositions.  I  shall  have  a  like - 
time  to  take  evidence  upon  my  side,  givin^  you  like  notice, 
and  you  shall  then  have  thirty  days  to  take  further  testimony 
in  reply  to  what  I  may  offer.  The  case  shall  then  be  argued 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


"before  the  persons  chosen;  and  their  decision  shall  he  final  as 
to  us. 

If  the  arbitrator  chosen  by  me  shall  die,  I  shall  have  the 
right  to  choose  another.  You  shall  have  the  same  right.  If 
the  third  one,  chosen  by  our  two,  shall  die,  the  two  shall 
choose  another;  and  all  vacancies,  from  whatever  cause,  shall 
be  filled  upon  the  same  principle. 

The  arbitrators  shall  sit,  when  and  where  a  majority  may 
determine,  and  shall  have  full  power  to  i)ass  upon  all  ques¬ 
tions  arising  as  to  competency  of  evidence  and  upon  all  sub¬ 
jects. 

Second. — As  to  Yoltaike:  I  make  the  same  proposition.  If 
you  will  substantiate  that  Voltaire  died  expressing  remorse 
or  showing  in  any  way  that  he  was  in  mental  agony  because 
he  had  attacked  Catholicism— or  because  he  had  denied  the 
inspiration  of  the  Bible — or  because  he  had  denied  the  divinity 
of  Christ. 

I  make  these  propositions  because  I  want  your  i)eoi)le  to 
stop  slandering  the  dead. 

If  the  propositions  do  not  suit  you  in  any  particular,  please 
state  your  objections,  and  I  will  modify  them  in  any  way  con¬ 
sistent  with  the  object  in  view. 

If  Paine  and  Voltaire  died  filled  with  childish  and  silly  fear, 
I  want  to  know  it,  and  I  want  the  world  to  know  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  believers  in  superstition  have  made  and 
circulated  these  cruel  slanders  concerning  the  mighty  dead,  I 
want  the  world  to  know  that. 

As  soon  as  you  notify  me  o£  the  acceptance  of  these  propo¬ 
sitions,  I  will  send  you  the  certificate  of  the  bank  that  the 
money  has  been  deposited  upon  the  foregoing  conditions, 
together  with  copies  of  bonds  for  costs. 

R.  G.  Ingeksoll. 

In  your  paper  of  September  27th,  1877,  you  acknow¬ 
ledge  the  receipt  of  the  foregoing  letter,  and  after  giv¬ 
ing  an  outline  of  its  contents,  say  :  As  not  one  of  the 
affirmations,  in  the  form  stated  in  this  letter,  was  con¬ 
tained  in  the  offer  we  made,  we  have  no  occasion  to  sub¬ 
stantiate  them.  But  we  are  prepared  to  produce  the 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  our  own  statement,  and  even  to 
go  further :  ‘  to  show  not  only  that  Tom  Paine  died  a 
drunken,  cowardly,  and  beastly  death,'  but  that  for 
many  years  previous,  and  up  to  that  event,  he  lived  a 
drunken  and  beastly  ‘life.'  " 

In  order  to  refresh  your  memory  as  to  what  you  had 
published,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  following,  which 


6 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


appeared  in  the  New  York  Observer  the  19th  of  July, 
1877:— 


Put  Down  the  Money. 

Col.  Bob  Ingersoll  in  a  speech  full  of  ribaldry  and 
blasphemy,  made  in  San  Francisco  recently,  said: — 

‘  I  will  give  $1,000  in  gold  coin  to  any  clergyman  who  can 
substantiate  that  the  death  of  Voltaire  was  not  as  peaceful  as 
the  dawn;  and  of  Tom  Paine  whom  they  assert  died  in  fear 
and  agony,  frightened  by  the  clankiug  chains  of  devils — in 
fact  frightened  to  death  by  God.  I  will  give  $1,000  likewise 
to  any  one  who  can  substantiate  this  ‘  absurd  story  a  story 
without  a  word  of  truth  in  it.’ 

AVe  have  published  the  testimony,  and  the  witnesses 
are  on  hand  to  prove  that  Tom  Paine  died  a  drunken, 
cowardly,  and  beastly  death.  Let  the  Colonel  deposit 
the  money  with  any  honest  man  and  the  absurd  story^  as 
he  terms  it^  shall  be  shown  to  be  an  ower  true  tale.  But 
he  won't  do  it.  His  talk  is  Infidel  ‘  Buncombe  '  and 
nothing  more." 

On  the  31st  of  August  I  sent  you  my  letter,  and  on 
the  27th  of  September  you  say  in  your  paper  :  As  not 
one  of  the  affirmations  in  the  form  stated  in  this  letter 
was  contained  in  the  offer  we  made,  we  have  no  occasion 
to  substantiate  them.’* 

What  were  the  affirmations  contained  in  the  offer  you 
made  ?  I  had  offered  a  thousand  dollars  in  gold  to  any 
one  who  would  substantiate  the  absurd  story  '  that 
Thomas  Paine  died  in  ’  fear  and  agony ^  frightened  by 
the  clanking  chains  of  devils — in  fact  frightened  to 
death  by  God." 

In  response  to  this  offer  you  said  :  Let  the  Colonel 
deposit  the  money  with  an  honest  man  and  the  ‘  absurd 
story,’  as  he  terms  it,  shall  be  shown  to  be  an  ^ower 
true  ’  tale.  But  he  won’t  do  it.  His  talk  is  Infidel 
^  Buncombe  ’  and  nothing  more.” 

Did  you  not  offer  to  prove  that  Paine  died  in  fear  and 
agony,  frightened  by  the  clanking  chains  of  devils  ? 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


7 


Did  jou  not  ask  me  to  deposit  the  money  that  you  might 
prove  the  absurd  story  to  be  an  ower  true  tale 
and  obtain  the  money  *?  Did  you  not  in  your  paper  of 
the  27th  of  September  in  eifect  deny  that  you  had  offer¬ 
ed  to  prove  this  absurd  story  ?  As  soon  as  I  offered 
to  deposit  the  gold  and  give  bonds  besides  to  cover  costs, 
did  you  not  publish  a  falsehood  ? 

You  have  eaten  your  own  words,  and,  for  my  part,  I 
would  rather  have  dined  with  Ezekiel  than  with  you. 

You  have  not  met  the  issue.  You  have  knowingly 
avoided  it.  The  question  was  not  as  to  the  personal 
habits  of  Paine.  The  real  question  was  and  is,  whether 
Paine  was  filled  with  fear  and  horror  at  the  time  of  his 
death  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions?  That  is  the 
question.  You  avoid  this.  In  effect,  you  abandon  that 
charge,  and  make  others. 

To  you  belongs  the  honor  of  having  made  the  most 
cruel  and  infamous  charges  against  Thomas  Paine  that 
have  ever  been  made.  Of  what  you  have  said  you  can¬ 
not  prove  the  truth  of  one  word. 

You  say  that  Thomas  Paine  died  a  drunken,  cowardly, 
and  beastly  death. 

I  pronounce  this  charge  to  be  a  cowardly  and  beastly 
falsehood. 

Have  you  any  evidence  that  he  was  in  a  drunken 
condition  when  he  died  ? 

What  did  he  say  or  do  of  a  cowardly  character  just 
before,  or  at  about  the  time  of  his  death  ? 

In  what  way  was  his  death  cowardly  ?  You  must 
answer  these  questions,  and  give  your  proof,  or  all 
honest  men  will  hold  you  in  abhorrence.  You  have 
made  these  charges.  The  man  against  whom  you  make 
them  is  dead.  He  cannot  answer  you.  I  can.  He 
cannot  compel  you  to  produce  your  testimony,  or  admit 
by  your  silence  that  you  have  cruelly  slandered  the 
defenceless  dead.  I  can  and  I  will.  You  say  that  his 
death  was  cowardly.  In  what  respect?  Was  it  cow¬ 
ardly  in  him  to  hold  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  in  con¬ 
tempt?  Was  it  cowardly  not  to  call  on  your  Lord? 


8 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


Was  it  cowardly  not  to  be  afraid?  You  say  that  his 
death  was  beastly.  Again  I  ask,  in  what  respect  ? 
Was  it  beastly  to  submit  to  the  inevitable  with  tran¬ 
quillity?  Was  it  beastl}'  to  look  with  composure  upon 
the  approach  of  death?  Was  it  beastly  to  die  without 
a  complaint,  without  a  murmur — to  pass  from  life  with¬ 
out  a  tear  ? 


Did  Thomas  Paine  Eecant  ? 

Mr.  Paine  had  prophesied  that  fanatics  would  crawl 
and  cringe  around  him  during  his  last  moments.  He 
believed  that  they  would  put  a  lie  in  the  mouth  of 
death. 

When  the  shadow  of  the  coming  dissolution  was  upon 
him,  two  clergymen,  Messrs.  Miliedollar  and  Cunning¬ 
ham,  called  to  annoy  the  djing  man.  Mr.  Cunning¬ 
ham  had  the  politeness  to  say,  ‘‘  Y’ou  have  now  a  full 
view  of  death — you  cannot  live  long,  and  whosoever 
does  not  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  assuredly 
be  damned.”  Mr.  Paine  replied,  ‘‘  Let  me  have  none  of 
your  Popish  stuflP.  Get  away  with  you  Good  morning.” 

On  another  occasion  a  Methodist  minister  obtruded 
himself  when  Willct  Hicks  was  present.  This  minister 
declared  to  Mr.  Paine  that  unless  he  repented  of  his 
unbelief  he  would  be  damned.”  Paine,  although  at  the 
door  of  death,  rose  in  his  bed  and  indignantly  requested 
the  clergyman  to  leave  his  room.  On  another  occasion, 
two  brothers  by  the  name  of  Pigott,  sought  to  convert 
him.  He  was  displeased  and  requested  their  departure. 
Afterwards  Thomas  Nixon  and  Capt.  Daniel  Pelton  visit¬ 
ed  him  for  the  express  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether 
he  had,  in  any  manner,  changed  his  religious  opiiions. 
They  were  assured  by  the  dying  man  that  he  still  held 
the  principles  he  had  expressed  in  his  writings. 

Afterwards,  these  gentlemen  hearing  that  William 
Cobbett  was  about  to  write  a  life  of  Paine  sent  him  the 
following  note :  — 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


9 


New  YorICf  April  24,  1818. 

Sir: — Having  been  informed  that  you  have  a  design  to  write 
a  history  of  the  life  and  writings  of  Thomas  Paine,  if  you 
have  been  furnished  with  materials  in  respect  to  his  religious 
opinions,  or  rather  of  his  recantation  of  his  former  opinions 
before  his  death,  all  you  have  heard  of  his  recanting  is  false. 
Being  aware  that  such  reports  would  be  raised  after  his  death 
by  fanatics  which  infested  his  house  at  the  time  it  was  ex¬ 
pected  he  would  die,  we  the  subscribers,  intimate  acquaint¬ 
ances  of  Thomas  Paine  since  the  year  1776,  went  to  his  house. 
He  was  sitting  up  in  a  chair,  and  apparently  in  full  vigor  and 
use  of  all  his  mental  faculties.  We  interrogated  him  upon 
his  religious  opinions,  and  if  he  had  changed  his  mind,  or  re¬ 
pented  of  anything  he  had  said  or  wrote  on  that  subject.  He 
answered,  “Not  at  all,”  and  appeared  rather  offended  at  our 
supposition  that  any  change  should  take  place  in  his  mind. 
We  took  down  in  writing  the  questions  put  to  him,  and  his 
answers  thereto,  befoie  a  number  of  persons  then  in  his  room, 
among  whom  were  his  doctor,  Mrs.  Bonneville,  &c.  This 
paper  is  mislaid  and  cannot  be  found  at  present,  but  the 
above  is  the  substance  which  can  be  attested  by  many  living 
witnesses.”  Thomas  Nixoh. 

Daniel  Felton. 


€. 

Mr.  Jarvis,  the  artist,  saw  Mr.  Paine  one  or  two  days 
before  his  death.  To  Mr.  Jarvis  he  expressed  his  be¬ 
lief  in  his  written  opinions  upon  the  subject  of  religion. 
B.  P.  Haskin,  an  attorney  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
also  visited  him  and  inquired  as  to  his  religious  opin¬ 
ions.  Paine  was  then  upon  the  threshhold  of  death,  but 
he  did  not  tremble.  He  was  not  a  coward.  He  ex¬ 
pressed  his  firm  and  unshaken  belief  in  the  religious 
ideas  he  had  given  to  the  world. 

Dr.  Manley  was  with  him  when  he  spoke  his  last 
words.  Dr.  Manley  asked  the  dying  man  if  he  did  not 
wish  to  believe  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  (rod?  and  the 
dying  philosopher  answered:  have  no  wish  to  be¬ 

lieve  on  that  subject.’’  Amasa  Woods  worth  sat  up  with 
Thomas  Paine  the  night  before  his  death.  In  1839, 
Gilbert  Vale  hearing  that  Mr.  M^oodsworth  was,  living 
in  or  near  Boston,  visited  him  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
his  statement.  The  statement  was  published  in  the 
Beacon  of  June  5,  1839,  while  thousands  who  had  been 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Paine  were  living. 

The  following  is  the  article  referred  to: — 


10 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


“We  have  just  returned  from  Boston.  One  object  of  our 
visit  to  that  city,  was  to  see  a  Mr.  Amasa  Woods  worth,  an  en¬ 
gineer,  now  retired  in  a  handsome  cottage  and  garden  at  East 
Cambridge,  near  Boston.  This  gentleman  owned  the  house 
occupied  by  Paine  at  his  death — while  he  lived  next  door.  As 
an  act  of  kindness  Mr.  Woodsworth  visited  Mr.  Paine  every 
day  for  six  weeks  before  his  death.  He  frequently  sat  up 
with  him,  and  did  so  on  the  last  two  nights  of  liis  life.  He 
was  always  there  with  Dr.  Manley,  the  physician,  and 
assisted  in  removing  Mr.  Paine  while  his  bed  was  prepared.* 
He  was  present  when  Dr.  Manley  asked  Mr.  Paine,  ‘if  he 
wished  to  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  son  of  God,’  and 
he  describes  Mr.  Paine’s  answer  as  animated.  He  says  that 
lying  on  his  back  he  used  some  action  and  with  much  em¬ 
phasis,  replied,  ‘I  have  na wish  to  believe  on  that  subject.* 
He  lived  some  time  after  this  but  was  not  known  to  speak, 
for  he  died  tranquilly.  Pie  accounts  for  the  insinuating  style 
of  Dr.  Manley’s  letter,  by  stating  that  that  gentleman  just 
after  its  publication  joined  a  church.  He  informs  us  that  lie 
has  openly  reproved  the  doctor  for  the  falsity  contained  in 
the  spirit  of  that  letter,  boldly  declaring  before  Dr.  Manley, 
who  is  yet  living,  that  nothing  which  he  saw  justified  the  in¬ 
sinuations.  Mr.  Woodsworth-assures  us  that  he  neither  heard 
nor  saw  anything  to  justify  the  belief  of  anymental  change  in 
the  opinions  of  Mr.  Paine  previous  to  his  death;  but  that 
being  very  ill  and  in  pain  chiefly  arising  from  the  skin  being 
removed  in  some  parts  by  long  lying,  he  was  generally  too 
uneasy  to  enjoy  conversation  on  abstract  subjects.  This, 
then,  is  the  best  evidence  that  can  be  procured  on  this  sub¬ 
ject,  and  we  publish  it  while  the  contravenieg  parties  are  yet 
alive,  and  with  the  authority  of  Mr.  Woodsworth.” 

Gilbert  Yale. 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  received  the  following  letter  which 
confirms  the  statement  of  Mr.  Vale: — 

Near  Stockton,  Cal.,  1 
Greenwood  Cottage^  July  9,  1877.  j 

Col.  Tngersoll  -In  1842  I  talked  with  a  gentlemali  in  Bos¬ 
ton.  I  have  forgotten  his  name;  but  he  was  then  an  engineer 
of  the  Charlestown  navy  yard.  I  am  thus  particular  so  that 
you  can  find  his  name  on  the  books.  -He  told  me  that  he 
nursed  Thomas  Paine  in  his  last  illness,  and  closed  his  eyes 
when  dead.  I  asked  him  if  he  recanted  and  called  upon  God 
to  save  him.  He  replied,  “No.  He  died  as  he  had  taught. 
He  liad  a  sore  upon  his  side  and  when  we  turned  him  it  was 
very  painful  and  he  would  cry  out,  “Oh!  God,  or  somethiDg 
like  that.”  “But.”  said  the  narrator,  “  that  was  nothing,  for 
he  believed  in  a  God.’  I  told  him  that  I  had  often  heard  it 
asserted  from  the  pulpii  that  Mr.  Paine  hafi  recanted  in  his 
last  moments.  The  gentleman  said  that  it  was  not  true,  and 
he  appeared  to  be  an  intelligent,  truthful  man. 

With  respect  I  remain,  &c.,  Philip  Graves,  M.  D. 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


11 


The  next  witness  is  Willet  Hicks,  a  Quaker  preacher. 
He  says  that  during  the  last  illness  of  Mr.  Paine  he 
visited  him  almost  daily,  and  that  Paine  died  firmly 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  -religious  opinions  he  had 
given  to  his  fellow  men.  It  was  to  this  same  Willet 
Hicks  that  Paine  applied  for  permission  to  be  buried  in 
the  cemetery  of  the  Quakers.  Permission  was  refused. 
This  refusal  settles  the  question  of  recantation.  If  he 
had  recanted,  of  course  there  could  have  been  no  objec¬ 
tion  to  his  body  being  buried  by  the  side  of  the  best 
hypocrites  on  the  earth.  If  Paine  recanted  why  should 
he  be  denied  “a  little  earth  for  charity?”  Had  he 
recanted,  it  would  have  been  regarded  as  a  vast  and 
splendid  triumph  for  the  Grospel.  It  would  with  much 
noise  and  pomp  and  ostentation  have  been  heralded 
about  the  world. 

I  received  the  following  letter  to-day.  The  writer  is 
well  known  in  this  city,  and  is  a  man  of  high  charac¬ 
ter: — 


Peoria^  Oct.  8,  1877. 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll :  — Esteemed  Friend:  —  My  parents 
.  were  Friends  (Quakers.)  My  father  died  when  1  was  very 
young.  The  elderly  and  middle-aged  Friends  visited  at  my 
mother's  house  We  lived  in  the  city  of  New  York  Among 
the  number  I  distinctly  remember  Elias  Hicks,  Willet  Hicks, 

and  a  Mr. -  Hay  who  was  a  bookseller  in  Pearl  Street. 

Theie  were  many  others  whose  names  I  do  not  now  remem¬ 
ber.  The  subject  of  the  recantation  of  Thomas  Paine  of  his 
views  about  the  Bible  in  his  last  illness  or  at  any  other  time 
was  discussed  by  them  in  my  presence  at  different  times.  I 
learned  from  them  that  some  of  them  had  attended  upon  Thom¬ 
as  Paine  in  his  last  sickness  and  ministered  to  his  wants  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death.  And  upon  the  question  of  whether  he 
did  recant,  there  was  but  one  expression.  They  all  said  that 
he  did  not  recant  in  any  manner.  I  often  fieard* them  say  that 
they  wish  he  had  recanted.  In  fact,  according  to  them,  the 
nearer  he  approached  death  the  more  positive  he  appeared  to 
be  in  his  convictions. 

These  conversations  were  from  1820  to  1822.  I  was  at  the 
time  from  ten  to  twelve  years  old,  but  these  conversations 
impressed  themselves  upon  me  because  many  thoughtless 
people  then  blamed  the  Society  of  Friends  for  their  kindness 
to  the  arch-Infidel,”  Thomas  Paine. 

Truly  yours. 


A.  C.  Hankinson. 


I 


12  THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED, 

# 

A  few  days  ago  1  received  the  following  letter: — 

Albany ^  (A  7.,)  Sept.  27,  1877. 

Dear  Sir: — It  is  over  twenty  years  ago  that  professionally 
I  made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Hogehoom,  a  Justice  of  tho 
Peace  of  the  County  of  Rensselaer,  New  York.  He  was  then 
over  seventy  years  of  age  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
man  of  candor  and  integrity.  He  was  a  great  admirer  of 
Paine.  He  told  me  that  he  was  iiersonally  acquainted  with 
him,  and  used  to  see  him  frequently  during  the  la'^t  years  of 
his  life  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  Hoge})Oom  then  re¬ 
sided.  I  asked  him  if  there  was  any  truth  in  the  charge  that 
Paine  was  in  tlie  habit  of  getting  drunk?  He  said  that  it  was 
utterly  false;  that  he  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  during  the 
life-time  of  Mr.  Paine,  and  did  not  believe  any  one  else  did, 
I  asked  him  about  the  recantation  of  his  religious  opinions  on 
his  death-bed,  and  the  revolting  death-bed  scenes  that  the 
world  had  heard  so  much  about.  He  said  there  was  no  truth 
in  them,  that  he  had  received  his  information  from  persons 
who  attended  Paine  in  his  last  illness,  “  and  that  he  passed 
peacefully  away  as  we  may  say  in  the  sunshine  of  a  great 
boul.**  Yours  truly,  W.  J.  Hilton. 

The  witnesses  by  whom  I  substantiate  the  fact  that 
Thomas  Paine  did  not  recant,  and  that  he  died  holding 
the  religious  opinions  he  had  published,  are 

First — Thomas  Nixon,  Captain  Daniel  Pelton,  B.  P. 
Haskin.  These  gentlemen  visited  him  during  his  last 
illness  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  he  had 
in  any  respect  changed  his  views  upon  religion.  He 
told  them  that  he  had  not. 

Second — James  Cheetham.  This  man  was  the  most 
malicious  enemy  Mr.  Paine  had,  and  yet  he  admits  that 

Thomas  Paine  died  placidly,  and  almost  without  a 
struggle.’’ — [See  Life  of  Thomas  Paine,  by  James  Cheet^ 
ham. 

Third — The  ministers,  Milledollar  and  Cunningham. 
These  gentlemen  told  Mr.  Paine  that  if  he  died  without 
believing  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  would  be  damned, 
and  Paine  replied,  ‘^Let  me  have  none  of  your  Popish 
stuff.  Good  morning.” — [See  Sher win’s  Life  of  Paine, 
page  220. 

Fourth — Mrs.  Hedden.  She  told  these  same  preach- 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


13 


ers  when  they  attempted  to  obtrude  themselves  upon 
Mr.  Paine  again,  that  the  attempt  to  convert  Mr.  Paine 
was  useless — that  if  God  did  not  change  his  mind  no 
human  power  could.”  ' 

Fifth — Andrew  A.  Dean.  This  man  lived  upon  Mr. 
Paine’s  farm  at  New  Rochelle,  and  corresponded  with 
him  upon  religious  subjects. — [See  Paine’s  Theological 
Works,  page  308, 

Sixth — Mr.  Jarvis,  the  artist  with  whom  Paine  lived. 
He  gives  an  account  of  an  old  lady  coming  to  Paine  and 
telling  him  that  God  Almighty  had  sent  her  to  tell  him 
that  unless  he  repented  and  believed  in  the  blessed  Sa¬ 
viour  he  would  be  damned.  Paine  replied  that  God 
would  not  send  such  a  foolish  old  woman  with  such  an 
impertinent  message.  —  [See  Clio  Rickman’s  Life  of 
Paine. 

Seventh — William  Carver,  with  whom  Paine  boarded. 
Mr.  Carver  said  again  and  again  that  Paine  did  not  re¬ 
cant.  He  knew  him  well,  and  had  every  opportunity  of 
knowing. — [See  Life  of  Paine  by  Vale. 

Eighth. — Dr.  Manley,  who  attended  him  in  his  last 
sickness,  and  to  whom  Paine  spoke  his  last  words.  Dr. 
Manley  asked  him  if  he  did  not  wish  to  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  he  replied  :  I  have  no  wish  to  believe  on 
that  subject.” 

Ninth — Willet  Hicks  and  Elias  Hicks,  who  were  with 
him  frequently  during  his  last  sickness,  and  both  of 
whom  tried  to  persuade  him  to  recant.  According  to 
their  testimony  Mr.  Paine  died  as  he  had  lived — a  be¬ 
liever  in  God,  and  a  friend  of  man.  Willet  Hicks  was 
offered  money  to  say  something  false  against  Thomas 
Paine.  He  was  even  offered  money  to  remain  silent  and 
allow  others  to  slander  the  dead.  Mr.  Hicks,  speaking 
of  Thomas  Paine,  said:  He  was  a  good  man — an  hon¬ 
est  man.” — [See  Vale’s  Life  of  Paine. 

Tenth — Amasa  Woodsworth,  who  was  with  him  every 
day  for  some  six  weeks  immediately  preceding  his  death, 

2 


14 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


and  sat  up  with  him  the  last  two  nights  of  his  life.  This 
man  declares  that  Paine  did  not  recant,  and  that  he  died 
tranquilly.  The  evidence  of  Mr.  Woodsworth  is  con¬ 
clusive. 

Eleventh — Thomas  Paine  himself.  The  will  of  Thomas 
Paine  written  by  himself  commences  as  follows  : 

The  last  will  and  testament  of  me  the  subscriber, 
Thomas  Paine,  reposing  confidence  in  my  creator  God, 
and  in  no  other  being,  for  I  know  of  no  other,  nor  be¬ 
lieve  in  any  other,”  and  closes  in  these  words :  I  have 
lived  an  honest  and  useful  life  to  mankind ;  my  time 
has  been  spent  in  doing  good ;  and  I  die  in  perfect  com¬ 
posure  and  resignation  to  the  will  of  my  creator  God.” 

Twelfth — If  Thomas  Paine  recanted,  why  do  you  pur¬ 
sue  him'?  If  he  recanted,  he  died  substantially  in  your 
belief.  For  what  reason  then  do  you  denounce  his  death 
as  cowardly  ?  If  upon  his  death-bed  he  renounced  the 
opinions  he  had  published,  the  business  of  defaming 
him  should  be  done  by  Infidels,  not  by  Christians.  I  ask 
you  if  it  is  honest  to  throwaway  the  testimony  of  his 
friends — the  evidence  of  fair  and  honorable  men — and 
take  the  putrid  words  of  avowed  and  malignant  enemies? 

When  Thomas  Paine  was  dying,  he  was  infested  by 
fanatics — by  the  snaky  spies  of  bigotry.  In  the  shad¬ 
ows  of  death  were  the  unclean  birds  of  prey  waiting  to 
tear  with  beak  and  claw  the  corpse  of  him  who  wrote 
the  ‘‘  Eights  of  Man.”  And  there  lurking  and  crouch* 
ing  in  the  d^kness  were  the  jackals  and  hyenas  of  su¬ 
perstition  ready  to  violate  his  grave. 

These  birds  of  prey — these  unclean  beasts,  are  the 
witnesses  produced  and  relied  upon  by  you. 

One  by  one  the  instruments  of  torture  have  been 
wrenched  from  the  cruel  clutch  of  the  church,  until 
within  the  armory  of  Orthodoxy  there  remains  but  one 
weapon — Slander. 

Against  the  witnesses  that  I  have  produced,  you  can 
bring  just  two — -Mary  Eoscoe  and  Mary  Hinsdale.  The 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


15 


first  is  referred  to  in  the  memoir  of  Stephen  Grellet. 
She  had  once  been  a  servant  in  his  house.  Grel¬ 
let  tells  what  happened  between  this  girl  and  Paine. 
According  to  this  account  Paine  asked  Ler  if  she  had 
ever  read  any  of  his  writings,  and  on  being  told  that  she 
had  read  very  little  of  them,  he  inquired  what  she 
thought  of  them,  adding  that  from  such  an  one  as  she 
he  expected  a  correct  answer. 

Let  us  examine  this  falsehood.  hy  would  Paine  ex¬ 
pect  a  correct  answer  about  his  writings  from  one  who 
had  read  very  little  of  them?  Does  not  such  a  state¬ 
ment  devour  itself?  This  young  lady  further  said  that 
the  Age  of  Eeason  ”  was  put  in  her  hands,  and  that 
the  more  she  read  in  it,  the  more  dark  and  distressed 
she  felt,  and  that  she  threw  the  book  into  the  fire.  Where¬ 
upon  -Mr.  Paine  remarked,  I  wish  all  had  done  as  you 
did,  for  if  the  devil  ever  had  any  agency  in  any  work, 
he  had  it  in  ray  writing  that  book.” 

The  next  is  Mary  Hinsdale.  She  was  a  servant  in 
the  family  of  Willet  Hicks.  She,  like  Mary  Eoscoe,  was 
sent  to  carry  some  delicacy  to  Mr.  Paine.  To  this  young 
lady  Paine,  according  to  her  account,  said  precisely  the 
same  that  he  did  to  Mary  Eoscoe,  and  she  said  the  same 
thing  to  Mr.  Paine. 

My  own  opinion  is  that  Mary  Eoscoe  and  Mary  Hins¬ 
dale  are  one  and  the  same  person,  or  the  same  story  has 
been  by  mistake  put  in  the  mouth  of  both. 

It  is  not  possible  that  the  same  conversation  should 
have  taken  place  between  Paine  and  Mary  Eoscoe,  and 
between  him  and  Mary  Hinsdale. 

Mary  Hinsdale  lived  with  Willet  Hicks,  and  he  pro¬ 
nounced  her  story  a  pious  fraud  and  fabrication.  He 
said  that  Thomas  Paine  never  said  any  such  thing  to 
Mary  Hinsdale. — [See  Vale’s  Life  of  Paine. 

Another  thing  about  this  witness.  A  woman  by  the 
namej)f  Mary  Lockwood,  aHicksite  Quaker,  died.  Mary 
Hinsdale  met  her  brother  about  that  time  and  told  him 
that  his  sister  had  recanted,  and  wanted  her  to  say  so  at 
her  funeral.  This  turned  out  to  be  false. 


16 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


It  has  been  claimed  that  Mary  Hinsdale  made  her 
statement  to  Charles  Collins.  Long  after  the  alleged 
occurrence,  G-ilbert  Vale,  one  of  the  biographers  of 
Paine,  had  a  conversation  with  Collins  concerning  Mary 
Hinsdale.  Vale  asked  him  whut  he  thought  of  her.  He 
replied  that  some  of  the  Friends  believed  that  she  used 
opiates,  and  that  they  did  not  give  credit  to  her  state¬ 
ments.  He  also  said  that  he  believed  what  the  Friends 
said,  but  thought  that  when  a  young  woman,  she  might 
have  told  the  truth. 

In  1818  William  Cobbett  came  to  New  York.  He 
began  collecting  materials  for  a  life  of  Thomas  Paine. 
In  this  way  he  became  acquainted  with  Mary  Hinsdale 
and  Charles  Collins.  Mr.  Cobbett  gave  a  full  account 
of  what  happened  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Norwich 
Mercury  in  1819.  From  this  account  it  seems  that 
Charles  Collins  told  Cobbett  that  Paine  had  recanted. 
Cobbett  called  for  the  testimony,  and  told  Mr.  Collins 
that  he  must  give  time,  place,  and  the  circumstances. 
He  finally  brought  a  statement  that  he  stated  had  been 
made  by  Mary  Hinsdale.  Armed  with  this  document 
Cobbett,  in  October  of  that  year,  called  upon  the  said 
Mary  Hinsdale,  at  No.  10  Anthony  street.  New  York, 
and  showed  her  the  statement.  Upon  being  questioned 
by  Mr.  Cobbett,  she  said  :  “  That  it  was  so  long  ago  she 
could  not  speak  positively  to  any  part  of  the  matter ; 
that  she  would  not  say  that  any  part  of  the  paper  was 
true  ;  that^she  had  never  seen  the  paper,  and  that  she 
had  never  given  Charles  Collins  authority  to  say  any¬ 
thing  about  the  matter  in  her  name.’*  And  so  in  the 
month  of  October  in  the  year  of  Grace  1818,  in  the  mist 
and  fog  of  forgetfulness  disappeared  forever  one  Mary 
Hinsdale,  the  last  and  only  witness  against  the  intellec¬ 
tual  honesty  of  Thomas  Paine. 


17 


TH:0MAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 
« 


Did  Thomas  Paine  Die  in  Destitution  and  Want  ? 

The  charge  has  been  made  over  and  over  again  that 
Thomas  Paine  died  in  want  and  destitution  ;  that  he 
was  an  abandoned  pauper — an  outcast  without  friends, 
and  without  money.  This  charge  is  just  as  false  as  the 
rest.  Upon  his  return  to  this  country  in  1802,  he  was 
worth  $30,000,  according  to  his  own  statement  made  at 
that  time  in  the  following  letter  addressed  to  Clio  Eick- 
man : — 


My  Dear  Friend: — Mr.  Monroe,  who  is  appointed  minister 
extraordinary  to  France,  takes  charge  of  this,  to  he  delivered 
to  Mr.  Este,  hanker  in  Paris,  to  he  forwarded  to  you. 

I  arrived  at  Baltimore  30th  of  October,  and  you  can  have  no 
idea  of  the  agitation  which  my  arrival  occasioned.  From  New 
Hampshire  to  Georgia  (an  extent  of  1,500  miles)  every  news¬ 
paper  was  filled  with  applause  or  abuse. 

My  property  in  this  country  has  been  taken  care  of  by  my 
friends,  and  is  now  worth  six  thousand  pounds  sterling,  which 
put  in  the  funds  will  bring  me  £400  sterling  a  year. 

Remember  me  in  affection  and  friendship  to  your  wife  and 
family,  and  in  the  circle  of  your  friends, 

Thomas  Paine. 

I 

A  man  in  those  days  worth  thirty  thousand  dollars 
was  not  a  pauper.  That  amount  would  bring  an  income 
of  at  least  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  Two  thou¬ 
sand  dollars  then  would  be  fully  equal  to  five  thousand 
dollars  now. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  1809,  the  year  in  which  he  died, 
Mr.  Paine  made  his  will.  From  this  instrument  we 
learn  that  he  was  the  owner  of  a  valuable  farm  within 
twenty  miles  of  New  York.  He  also  was  the  owner  of 
thirty  shares  in  the  New  York  Phoenix  Insurance  Com¬ 
pany,  worth  upwards  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Be¬ 
sides  this,  some  personal  property  and  ready  money.  By 
his  will  he  gave  to  Walter  Morton,  and  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet,  brother  of  Robert  Emmet,  two  hundred  dollars 
each,  and  one  hundred  to  the  widow  of  Elihu  Palmer. 

Is  it  possible  that  this  will  was  made  by  a  pauper,  by 


18  THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 

a  destitute  outcast,  by  a  man  who  suffered  for  the  ordi¬ 
nary  necessaries  of  life  ? 

But  suppose,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  he 
was  poor,  and  that  he  died  a  beggar ;  does  that  tend  to 
show  that  the  Bible  is  an  inspired  book,  and  that  Calvin 
did  not  burn  Servetus?  Do  you  really  regard  poverty 
as  a  crime  ?  If  Paine  had  died  a  millionaire  ,would  you 
have  accepted  his  religious  opinions  ?  If  Paine  had 
drank  nothing  but  cold  water  would  you  have  repudi¬ 
ated  the  five  cardinal  points  of  Calvinism  ?  Does  an 
argument  depend  for  its  force  upon  the  pecuniary  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  person  making  it  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
most  reformers — most  men  and  women  of  genius,  have 
been  acquainted  with  poverty.  Beneath  a  covering  of 
rags  have  been  found  some  of  the  tenderest  and  bravest 
hearts. 

Owing  to  the  attitude  of  the  church  for  the  last  fif¬ 
teen  hundred  jears,  truth-telling  has  not  been  a  very 
lucrative  business.  As  a  rule,  hypocrisy  has  worn  the 
robes,  and  honesty  the  rags.  That  day  is  passing  away. 
You  cannot  now  answer  the  argument  of  a  man,  by  point¬ 
ing  at  holes  in  his  coat.  Thomas  Paine  attacked  the 
church  when  it  was  powerful ;  when  it  had  what  it  called 
honors  to  bestow  ;  when  it  was  the  keeper  of  the  public 
conscience;  when  it  was  strong  and  cruel.  The  church 
waited  till  he  was  dead,  and  then  attacked  his  reputa¬ 
tion  and  his  clothes. 

Once  upon  a  time  a  donkey  kicked  a  lion.  The  lion 
was  dead. 


Did  Thomas  Paine  Live  the  Life  of  a  Drunken 
Beast, AND  Did  He  Die  a  Drunken,  Cowardly  and 
Beastly  Death  ? 

Upon  you  rests  the  burden  of  substantiating  these  in¬ 
famous  charges. 

You  have,  I  suppose,  produced  the  best  evidence  in 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


19 


your  possession,  and  that  evidence  I  will  now  pi’oceed  to 
examine.  Your  first  witness  is  Grant  Thorburn.  He 
makes  .three  charges  against  Thomas  Paine.  1st.  That 
his  wife  obtained  a  divorce  from  him  in  England  for  cru¬ 
elty  and  neglect.  2d.  That  he  was  a  defaulter,  and 
fled  from  England  to  America.  3d.  That  he  was  a 
drunkard.  These  three  charges  stand  upon  the  same 
evidence^ — the  word  of  Grant  Thorburn.  If  they  are  not 
all  true,  Mr.  Thorburn  stands  impeached. 

The  charge  that  Mrs.  Paine  obtained  a  divorce  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  cruelty  and  neglect  of  her  husband,  is  ut¬ 
terly  false.  There  is  no  such  record  in  the  world,  and 
never  was.  Paine  and  his  wife  separated  by  mutual 
consent.  Each  respe'cted  the  other.  They  remained 
friends.  This  charge  is  without  any  foundation  in  fact. 
1  challenge  the  Christian  world  to  produce  the  record  of 
this  decree  of  divorce.  According  to  JVlr.  Thorburn  it 
was  granted  in  England.  In  that  country  public  records 
are  kept  of  all  such  decrees.  Have  the  kindness  to  pro¬ 
duce  this  decree,  showing  that  it  was  given  on  account 
of  cruelty,  or  admit  that  Mr.  Thorburn  was  mistaken. 

Thomas  Paine  was  a  just  man.  Although  separated 
from  his  wife,  he  always  spoke  of  her  with  tenderness 
and  respect,  and  frequently  sent  her  money  without  let¬ 
ting  her  know  the  source  from  whence  it  came.  Was 
this  the  conduct  of  a  drunken  beast? 

The  second  charge,  that  Paine  was  a  defaulter  in  Eng¬ 
land  and  fled  to  America,  is  equally  false.  He  did  not 
flee  from  England.  He  came  to  America,  not  as  a  fugi¬ 
tive,  but  as  a  free  man.  He  came  with  a  letter  of  intro¬ 
duction  signed  by  another  Infidel,  Benjamin  Franklin. 
He  came  as  a  soldier  of  Freedom — an  apostle  of  Liberty. 

In  this  second  charge  there  is  not  one  word  of  truth. 

He  held  a  small  office  in  England.  If  he  was  a  de¬ 
faulter  the  records  of  that  country  will  show  that  fact. 

Mr.  Thorburn,  unless  the  record  can  be  produced  to 
substantiate  him,  stands  convicted  of  at  least  two  mis¬ 
takes. 

Now  as  to  the  third  :  He  says  that  in  1802  Paine  was 


20  THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 

an  old  remnant  of  mortality,  drunk,  bloated,  and  half 
asleep/’ 

Can  any  one  believe  this  to  be  a  true  account  of  the 
personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Paine  in  1802?  He  had 
just  returned  from  France.  He  had  been  welcomed  home 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  had  said  that  he  was  entitled 
to  the  hospitality  of  every  American. 

In  1802  Mr.  Paine  was  honored  with  a  public  dinner 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  called  upon  and  treat- 
.ed  with  kindness  and  respect  by  such  men  as  De  Witt 
Clinton. 

In  1806  Mr.  Paine  wrote  a  letter  to  Andrew  A.  Dean 
upon  the  subject  of  religion.  'Bead  that  letter  and  then 
say  that  the  writer  of  it  was  an  ‘‘  old  remnant  of  mor¬ 
tality,  drunk,  bloated,  and  half  asleep.”  Search  the 
files  of  the  New  York  Observer  from  the  first  issue  to  the 
last,  and  you  will  find  nothing  superior  to  this  letter.  In 
1803  Mr.  Paine  wrote  a  letter  of  considerable  length, 
and  of  great  force,  to  his  friend  Samuel  Adams.  Such 
letters  are  not  written  by  drunken  beasts,  nor  by  rem¬ 
nants  of  old  mortality,  nor  by  drunkards.  It  was  about 
the  same  time  that  he  wrote  his  “  Eemarks  on  Eobert 
Hall’s  Sermons  ”  Tiiese  “  Eemarks  ”  were  not  written 
by  a  drunken  beast,  but  by  a  clear-headed  and  thought¬ 
ful  man. 

In  1804  he  published  an  essay  on  the  invasion  of 
England,  and  a  treatise  on  gun-boats,  full  of  valuable 
maritime  information.  In  1805  a  treatise  on  yellow  fe¬ 
ver,  suggesting  modes  of  prevention.  In  short,  he  was 
an  industrious  and  thoughtful  man.  He  sympathised 
with  the  poor  and  oppressed  of  all  lands.  He  looked 
upon  monarchy  as  a  species  of  physical  slavery.  He  had 
the  goodness  to  attack  that  form  of  government.  He  re¬ 
garded  the  religion  of  his  day  as  a  kind  of  mental  sla¬ 
very.  He  had  the  courage  to  give  his  reasons  for  his 
opinions.  His  reasons  filled  the  churches  with  hatred. 
Instead  of  answering  his  arguments  they  attacked  him. 
Men  who  were  not  fit  to  blacken  his  shoes,  blackened 
his  character. 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


21 


There  is  too  much  religious  cant  in  the  statement  of 
Mr.  Thorburn.  He  exhibits  too  much  anxiety  to  tell 
what  Grant  Thorburn  said  to  Thomas  Paine.  He  names 
Thomas  Jefferson  as  one  of  the  disreputable  men  who 
welcomed  Paine  with  open  arms.  The  testimony  of  a 
man  who  regarded  Thomas  Jefferson  as  a  disreputable  » 
person,  as  to  the  character  of  anybody,  is  utterly  without 
value. 

In  my  judgment  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Thorburn  should 
be  thrown  aside  as  wholly  unworthy  of  belief. 

Your  next  witness  is  Pev.  J.  D.  Wickham,  D.  D.,  who 
tells  what  an  elder  in  his  church  said.  This  elder  said 
that  Paine  passed  his  last  days  on  his  farm  at  New  Eo- 
chelle  with  a  solitary  female  attendant.  This  is  not 
true.  He  did  not  pass  his  last  days  at  New  Eochelle. 
Consequently  this  pious  elder  did  not  see  him  during 
his  last  days  at  that  place.  Upon  this  elder  we  prove 
an  alibi.  Mr.  Paine  passed  his  last  days  in  the  city  of 
New  York  in  a  house  upon  Columbia  street.  The  story 
of  the  Eev.  J.  D.  Wickham,  D.  D.,  is  «imply  false. 

The  next  competent  false  witness  is  the  Eev.  Charles 
Hawley,  D.  D  ,  who  proceeds  to  state  that  the  story  of 
the  Eev.  J.  D.  W.,  is  corroborated  by  older  citizens  of 
New  Eochelle.  The  names  of  these  ancient  residents  are 
withheld.  According  to  these  unknown  witnesses  the 
account  given  by  the  deceased  elder  was  entirely  correct. 
But  as  the  particulars  of  Mr.  Paine’s  conduct  were 
too  loathsome  to  be  described  in  print,”  we  are  left  en¬ 
tirely  in  the  dark  as  to  what  he  really  did. 

While  at  New  Eochelle  Mr.  Paine  lived  with  Mr. 
Purdy,  with  Mr.  Dean,  with  Capt.  Pelton,  and  with  Mr. 
Staple.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  all  of  these  gentlemen 
give  the  lie  direct  to  the  statements  of  ‘‘older  residents  ” 
and  ancient  citizens  spoken  of  by  the  Eev.  Charles  Haw¬ 
ley,  D.  D.,  and  leave  him  with  his  “loathsome  particu¬ 
lars”  existing  only  in  his  own  mind. 

The  next  gentleman  you  bring  upon  the  stand  is  W. 
H.  Ladd,  who  quotes  from  the  memoirs  of  Stephen  Grel- 
let.  This  gentleman  has  also  the  misfortune  to  be  dead. 


22 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


According  to  his  account  Mr.  Paine  made  his  recanta¬ 
tion  to  a  servant  girl  of  his  by  the  name  of  Mary  Koscoe. 
To  this  girl,  according  to  the  account,  Mr.  Paine  uttered 
the  wish  that  all  who  read  his  book  had  burned  it.  I 
believe  there  is  a  mistake  in  the  name  of  this  girl.  Her 
name  was  probably  Mary  Hinsdale,  as  it  was  once 
claimed  that  Paine  made  the  same  remark  to  her,  but 
this  point  I  shall  notice  hereafter.  These  are  your  wit¬ 
nesses,  and  the  only  ones  you  bring  forward  to  support 
your  charge  that  Thomas  Paine  lived  a  drunken  and 
beastly  life,  and  died  a  drunken,  cowardly,  and  beastly 
death.  Ail  these  calumnies  are  found  in  a  life  of  Paine 
by  a  Mr.  Cheetham,  the  convicted  libeller  already  re¬ 
ferred  to.  Mr.  Cheetham  was  an  enemy  of  the  man 
whose  life  he  pretended  to  write. 

In  order  to  show  you  the  estimation  in  which  Mr. 
Cheetham  was  held  by  Mr.  Paine,  I  will  give  you  a  copy 
of  a  letter  that  throws  light  upon  this  point. 

October  27th,  1807. 

Mr.  Cheetham: — Unless  you  make  a  public  apology  for  the 
abuse  and  falsehood  in  your  paper  of  Tuesday,  October  27th, 
respecting  me,  I  will  prosecute  you  for  lying.  * 

Thomas  Paine. 

In  another  letter,  speaking  of  this  same  man,  Mr. 
Paine  says :  ‘‘  If  an  unprincipled  bully  cannot  be  re¬ 
formed,  he  can  be  punished.’^  ‘‘  Cheetham  has  been  so 
long  in  the  habit  of  giving  false  information,  that  truth 
is  to  him  like  a  foreign  language.” 

Mr.  Cheetham  wrote  the  life  of  Paine  to  gratify  his 
malice  and-to  support  religion.  He  was  prosecuted  for 
libel ;  was  convicted  and  fined. 

Yet  the  life  of  Paine  written  by  this  man  is  referred 
to  by  the  Christian  world  as  the  highest  authority ! 

As  to  the  personal  habits  of  Mr.  Paine,  we  have  the 
testimony  of  William  Carver  with  whom  he  lived  ;  of  Mr. 
Jarvis,  the  artist,  with  whom  he  lived;  of  Mr.  Staple, 
with  whom  he  lived ;  of  Mr.  Purdy,  who  was  a  tenant 


i 


THOIVIAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


23 


of  Paine ;  of  Mr.  Burger,  with  whom  he  was  intimate  ; 
of  Thomas  Nixon,  and  Gapt.  Daniel  Pelton,  both  of  whom 
knew  him  well;  of  Amasa  Woodsworth,  who  was  with 
him  when  he  died;  of  John  Fellows,  who  boarded  at  the 
same  house  ;  of  James  Wilburn,  with  whom  he  boarded  ; 
of  B,  F.  Haskin,  a  lawyer,  who  was  well  acquainted  with 
him  and  called  upon  him  during  his  last  illness ;  of 
Walter  Morton,  President  of  the  Phoenix  Insurance 
Company ;  of  Clio  Kickman,  who  had  known  him  for 
many  years  ;  of  Willet  and  Elias  Hicks,  Quakers,  who 
knew  him  intimately  and  well ;  of  Judge  Thomas  Her- 
tell,  H.  Margery,  Elihu  Palmer,  and  many  others.  All 
these  testified  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Paine  was  a  temper¬ 
ate  man.  In  those  days  nearly  everybody  used  spirit¬ 
uous  liquors.  Paine  was  not  an  exception  ;  but  he  did 
not  drink  to  excess.  Mr.  Lovett,  who  kept  the  City 
Hotel  where  Paine  stopped,  in  a  note  to  Caleb  Bingham, 
declared  that  Paine  drank  less  than  any  boarder  he  had. 

‘  Against  all  this  evidence  you  produce  the  story  of 
Grant  Thorburn ;  the  story  of  the  Eev.  J.  D.  Wickham, 
that  an  elder  in  his  church  told  him  that  Paine  was  a 
drunkard,  corroborated  by  the  Eev.  Charles  Hawley,  and 
an  extract  from  Lossing’s  history  to  the  same  effect.  The 
evidence  is  overwhelmingly  against  you.  Will  you  have 
the  fairness  to  admit  it  ?  Your  witnesses  are  merely  the 
repeaters  of  the  falsehoods  of  James  Cheetham  the  con¬ 
victed  libeller. 

After  all,  drinking  is  not  as  bad  as  lying.  An  honest 
drunkard  is  better  than  a  calumniator  of  the  dead.  A 
remnant  of  old  mortality,  drunk,  bloated,  and  half 
asleep,'^  is  better  than  a  perfectly  sober  defender  of  hu¬ 
man  slavery. 

To  become  drunk  is  a  virtue  compared  with  stealing 
a  babe  from  the  breast  of  its  mother. 

Drunkenness  is  one  of  the  beatitudes,  compared  with 
editing  a  religious  paper  devoted  to  the  defence  of  sla¬ 
very  upon  the  ground  that  it  is  a  divine  institution. 

Do  you  really  think  that  Paine  was  a  drunken  beast 
when  he  wrote  “  Common  Sense,”  a  pamphlet  that 


24 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


aroused  three  millions  of  people,  as  people  were  never 
aroused  by  words , before  ?  Was  he  a  drunken  beast 
when  he  wrote  The  Crisis?’’  Was  it  to  a  drunken 
beast  that  the  following  letter  was  addressed  ' 


By  Genepal  Washington? 


Rocky  Hill,  Septe^nher  10,  1783. 

I  Have  learned  since  I  Have  been  at  tHis  place,  tHat  you  are 
at  Bordentown.  WHetlier  for  tHe  sake  of  retirement  or  econo¬ 
my  I  know  not.  Be  it  for  eitHer  or  both,  or  wHatever  it  may, 
if  you  will  come  to  tHis  place  and  partake  witH  me  I  sHall  be 
exceedingly  Happy  to  see  you  at  it.  Your  presence  may  re¬ 
mind  Congress  of  your  i:)ast  services  to  tHis  country;  and  if  it 
is  in  my  power  to  impress  tliem,  command  my  best  exertions 
witH  freedom,  as  tHey  will  be  rendered  cHeerfully  by  one  who 
entertains  a  lively  sense  of  tHe  importance  of  your  works,  and 
wHo  witH  mucH  pleasure  subscribes  Himself 

Your  Sincere  Friend,  George  Washington. 

Did  any  of  your  ancestors  ever  receive  a  letter  like 
that  ? 

Do  you  think  that  Paine  was  a  drunken  beast  when 
the  following  letter  was  received  by  him 


Prom  Thomas  Jefferson  ? 


“You  express  a  wisH  in  your  letter  to  return  to  America  in 
a  national  sHip ;  Mr.  Dawson,  wHo  brings  over  tHe  treaty,  and 
wHo  will  present  you  witH  tHis  letter,  is  cHarged  witH  orders 
to  tHe  captain  of  tHe  Maryland  to  receive  and  accommodate 
you  back,  if  you  can  be  ready  to  depart  at  sucH  a  sHort  warn¬ 
ing.  You  will  in  general  find  us  returned  to  sentiments  wor¬ 
thy  of  former  times;  in  these  it  loill  be  your  glory  to  have 
steadily  labored  and  with  as  much  effect  as  any  man  living.  THat 
you  may  live  long  to  continue  your  useful  labors,  and  reap 
the  reward  in  the  thankfulness  of  nations,  is  my  sincere  prayer. 
Accept  the  assurances  of  my  High  esteem,  and  affectionate 
attachment.’*  Thoihas  Jefferson. 

Did  any  of  your  ancestors  ever  receive  a  letter  like 
that  ? 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


25 


“  It  lias  been  very  generally  propagated  tli rough  tlie  conti¬ 
nent  that  I  wrote  the  pamphlet  ‘  Common  Sense.’  I  could 
not  have  written  anything  in  so  manly  and  striking  a  style.” 

John  Adams. 

“  A  few  more  such  flaming  arguments  as  were  exhibited  at 
Falmouth  and  Norfolk,  added  to  the  sound  doctrine  and  un¬ 
answerable  reasoning  contained  in  the  pamphlet  ‘  Common 
Sense,*  will  not  leave  numbers  at  a  loss  to  decide  on  the  i^ro- 
priety  of  a  separation.”  George  Washington. 

“It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  tell  you  how  much  all  your 
countr:^men — I  speak  of  the  great  mass  of  tlie  peoiile — are  in¬ 
terested  in  your  welfare.  They  have  not  forgotten  the  history 
of  their  own  revolution  and  the  difficult  scenes  through  which 
they  passed;  nor  do  they  review  its  several  stages  without  re¬ 
viving  in  their  bosoms  a  due  sensibility  of  the  merits  of  those 
who  served  them  in  that  great  and  arduous  conflict.  The 
crime  of  ingratitude  has  not  yet  stained,  and  I  trust  never 
will  stain,  our  national  character.  You  are  considered  by 
them  as  not  only  having  rendered  important  services  in  our 
own  revolution,  but  as  being  on  a  more  extensive  scale  the 
friend  of  human  rights,  and  a  distinguished  and  able  advocate 
in  favor  of  public  liberty.  To  the  welfare  of  Thomas  Paine, 
the  Americans  are  not,  nor  can  they  be,  indifferent. 

James  Monroe. 

Did  any  of  y^ur  ancestors  ever  receive  a  letter  like 
that  ? 

\ 

“  No  writer  has  exceeded  Paine  in  ease  and  familiarity  of 
style,  in  perspicuity  of  expression,  happiness  of  elucidation, 
and  in  simple  and  unassuming  language.” 

Thoivias  Jefferson. 

Was  ever  a  letter  like  that  written  about  an  editor  of 
the  New  York  Observer 

Was  it  in  consideration  of  the  services  of  a  drunken 
beast  that  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  presented 
Thomas  Paine  with  five  hundred  pounds  sterling  ? 

Did  the  State  of  New  York  feel  indebted  to  a  drunken 
beast,  and  confer  upon  Thomas  Paine  an  estate  of  several 
hundred  acres  ? 

Did  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  thank  him  for 
his  services  because  he  had  lived  a  drunken  and  beastly 
life  ? 

Was  he  elected  a  member  of  the  French  Convention 
3 


26 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


because  he  was  a  drunken  beast  ?  Was  it  the  act  of  a 
drunken  beast  to  put  his  own  life  in  jeopardy  by  voting 
against  the  death  of  the  king  ?  Was  it  because  he  was 
a  drunken  beast  that  he  opposed  the  Beign  of  Ter¬ 
ror  ?  ’’  —  that  he  endeavored  to  stop  the  shedding  of 
blood,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  protect  even  his  own 
enemies  ? 

Do  the  following  extracts  sound  like  the  words  of  a 
drunken  beast  ? 

I  believe  in  the  equality  of  man,  and  I  believe  that 
religious  duties  consist  in  doing  justice,  loving  mercy, 
and  endeavoring  to  make  our  fellow  creatures  happy.*’ 

My  own  mind  is  my  own  church.'* 

‘‘  It  is  necessSiry  to  the  happiness  of  man  that  he  be 
^mentally  faithful  to  himself.” 

‘‘  Any  system  of  religion  that  shocks  the  mind  of  a 
child  cannot  be  a  true  system.” 

‘‘  The  word  of  God  is  the  creation  which  we  behold.” 

‘‘  The  age  of  ignorance  commenced  with  the  Christian 
system.** 

It  is  with  a  pious  fraud  as  with  a  bad  action — it  be¬ 
gets  a  calamitous  necessity  of  going  on.” 

To  read  the  Bible  without  horror,  we  must  undo 
everything  that  is  tender,  sympathizing,  and  benevolent 
in  the  heart  of  man.” 

The  man  does  not  exist  who  can  say  I  have  perse¬ 
cuted  him,  or  that  I  have  in  any  case  returned  evil  for 
evil.” 

‘‘  Of  all  the  tyrannies  that  aflElict  mankind,  tyranny 
in  religion  is  the  worst.” 

‘‘  The  belief  in  a  cruel  God  makes  a  cruel  man.** 

My  own  opinion  is,  that  those  whose  lives  have  been 
spent  in  doing  good  and  endeavoring  to  make  their  fel¬ 
low*  mortals  happy,  will  be  happy  hereafter.” 

The  intellectual  part  of  religion  is  a  private  affair 
between  every  man  and  his  Maker,  and  in  which  no 
third  party  has  any  right  to  interfere.  The  practical 
part  consists  in  our  doing  good  to  each  other.** 

No  man  ought  to  make  a  living  by  religion.  One 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


27 


person  cannot  act  religion  for  another :  every  person 
must  perforin  it  for  himself.” 

One  good  schoolmaster  is  of  more  use  than  a  hun¬ 
dred  priests.”  ' 

Let  us  propagate  morality  unfettered  by  supersti¬ 
tion.” 

God  is  the  power,  or  first  cause,  Nature  is  the  law, 
and  matter  is  the  subject  acted  upon.” 

I  believe  in  one  God  and  no  more,  and  I  hope  for 
happiness  beyond  this  life.” 

The  key  of  happiness  is  not  in  the  keeping  of  any 
sect,  nor  ought  the  road  to  it  be  obstructed  by  any.” 

My  religion,  and  the  whole  of  it  is,  the  fear  and 
love  of  the  Deity  and  universal  philanthropy.” 

1  have  yet,  I  believe,  some  years  in  store,  for  I  have 
a  good  state  of  health  and  a  happy  mind.  I  take  care 
of  both,  by  nourishing  the  first  with  temperance^  and 
the  latter  with  abundance.” 

He  lives  immured  within  a  Bastile  of  a  word.” 

How  perfectly  that  sentence  describes  you  !  The  Bas¬ 
tile  in  which  you  are  immured  is  the  word  Calvinism.” 

Man  has  no  property  in  man.” 

What  a  splendid  motto  that  would  have  made  for  the 
New  York  Observer  in  the  olden  time  ! 

‘‘  The  world  is  my  country  ;  to  do  good  my  religion.” 

I  ask  you  again  whether  these  splendid  utterances 
came  from  the  lips  of  a  drunken  beast  ? 


CONCLUSION. 


From  the  persistence  with  which  the  Orthodox  have 
charged  for  the  last  sixty- eight  years  that  Thomas  Paine 
recanted,  and  that  when  dying  he  was  filled  with  re¬ 
morse  and  fear ;  from  the  malignity  of  the  attacks  upon 
his  personal  character,  I  had  concluded  that  there 
must  be  some  evidence  of  some  kind  to  support  these 


28 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


charges.  Even  with  my  ideas  of  the  average  honor  of 
believers  in  superstition — the  disciples  of  fear,  I  did 
not  quite  believe  that  all  these  infamies  rested  solely  on 
poorly  attested  lies.  1  had  charity  enough  to  suppose 
that  something  had  been  said  or  done  by  Thomas  Paine 
capable  of  being  tortured  into  a  foundation  for  these 
calumnies.  And  I  was  foolish  enough  to  think  that  even 
you  would  be  willing  to  fairly  examine  the  pretended 
evidence  said  to  sustain  these  charges,  and  give  your 
honest  conclusion  to  the  world.  I  supposed  that  you, 
being  acquainted  with  the  history  of  your  country,  felt 
under  a  certain  obligation  to  Thomas  Paine  for  the  splen¬ 
did  services  rendered  by  him  in  the  darkest  days  of  the 
Eevolution.  It  was  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  you 
were  aware  that  in  the  midnight  of  Valley  Forge,  the 
‘‘’Crisis,”  by  Thomas  Paine,  was  the  first  star  that  glit¬ 
tered  in  the  wide  horizon  of  despair.  I  took  it  for  grant¬ 
ed  that  you  knew  the  bold  stand  taken  and  the  brave 
words  spoken  by  Thomas  Paine  in  the  French  Conven¬ 
tion,  against  the  death  of  the  king.  I  thought  it  pro¬ 
bable  that  you,  being  an  editor,  had  read  the  “  Eights 
of  Man that  you  knew  Thomas  Paine  was  a  champion 
of  human  liberty  ;  that  he  was  one  of  the  founders  and 
fathers  of  this  republic  ;  that  he  was  one  of  the  foremost 
men  of  his  age ;  that  he  had  never  written  a  word  in 
favor  of  injustice;  that  he  was  a  despiser  of  slavery; 
that  he  abhorred  tyranny  in  all  its  forms  ;  that  he  was 
in  the  widest  and  highest  sense  a  friend  of  his  race; 
that  his  head  was  as  clear  as  his  heart  was  good,  and 
that  he  had  the  courage  to  speak  his  honest  thought. 

Under  these  circumstances  I  had  hoped  that  you  would 
for  the  moment  forget  your  religious  prejudices  and  sub¬ 
mit  to  the  enligntened  judgment  of  the  world  the  evi¬ 
dence  you  had  or  could  obtain,  affecting  in  any  way  the 
character  of  so  great  and  so  generous  a  man.  This  you 
have  refused  to  do.  In  my  judgment  you  have  mistaken 
the  temper  of  even  your  own  readers.  A  large  majority 
of  the  religious  people  of  this  country  have,  to  a  consid¬ 
erable  extent,  outgrown  the  prejudices  of  their  fathers. 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


29 


They  are  williDg  to  know  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth, 
about  the  life  and  death  of  Thomas  Paine.  They  will 
not  thank  you  for  having  presented  to  them  the  moss- 
covered,  the  maimed  and  distorted  traditions  of  igno¬ 
rance,  prejudice,  and  credulity.  By  this  course  you  will 
convince  them,  not  of  the  wickedness  of  Paine,  but  of 
your  own  unfairness. 

What  crime  had  Thomas  Paine  committed  that  he 
should  have  feared  to  die  ?  The  only  answer  that  you 
can  give  is,  that  he  denied  the  inspiration  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures.  If  this  is  a  crime,  the  civilized  world  is  filled 
with  criminals.  The  pioneers  of  human  thought;  the 
intellectual  leaders  of  the  world  ;  the  foremost  men 
in  every  science ;  the  kings  of  literature  and  art ;  those 
who  stand  in  the  front  rank  of  investigation  ;  the  men 
who  are  civilizing,  elevating,  instructing,  and  refining 
mankind,  are  to  day  unbelievers  in  the  dogma  of  inspi¬ 
ration.  Upon  this  question  the  intellect  of  Christendom 
agrees  with  the  conclusion  reached  by  the  genius  of 
Thomas  Paine.  Centuries  ago  a  noise  was  made  for  the 
purpose  of  frightening  mankind.  Orthodoxy  is  the  echo 
of  that  noise. 

The  man  who  now  regards  the  Old  Testament  as  in 
any  sense  a  sacred  or  inspired  book  is  in  my  judgment 
an  intellectual  and  moral  deformity.  There  is  in  it  so 
much  that  is  cruel,  ignorant  and  ferocious,  that  it  is  to 
me  a  matter  of  amazement  that  it  was  ever  thought  to 
be  the  work  of  a  most  merciful  Deity. 

'  Upon  the  question  of  inspiration  Thomas  Paine  gave 
his  honest  opinion.  Can  it  be  that  to  give  an  honest 
opinion,  causes  one  to  die  in  terror  and  despair  ?  Have 
you,  in  your  writings,  been  actuated  by  the  fear  of  such 
a  consequence  ?  Why  should  it  be  taken  for  granted 
that  Thomas  Paine,  who  devoted  his  life  to  the  sacred 
cause  of  freedom  should  have  been  hissed  at  in  the  hour 
of  death  by  the  snakes  of  conscience,  while  editors  of 
Presbyterian  papers  who  defended  slavery  as  a  divine 
institution,  and  cheerfully  justified  the  stealing  of  babes 
from  the  breasts  of  mothers,  are  supposed  to  have  passed 


30 


THOMAS  PAINE  VINDICATED. 


% 


smilingly  from  earth  to  the  embraces  of  angels  ?  Why 
should  you  think  that  the  heroic  author  of  the  Eights 
of  Man’’  should  shudderingly  dread  to  leave  this  bank 
and  shoal  of  time,”  while  Calvin  dripping  with  the  blood 
of  Servetus,  was  anxious  to  be 'judged  of  God?  Is  it 
possible  that  the  persecutors- — the  instigators  of  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  —  the  inventors  and  users 
of  thumb-screws,  and  iron  boots,  and  racks  —  the  burn¬ 
ers  and  tearers  of  human  flesh — the  stealers,  whippers 
and  enslavers  of  men  —  the  buyers  and  beaters  of  babes 
and  mothers — the  founders  of  inquisitions — the  makers 
of  chains,  the  builders  of  dungeons,  the  slanderers  of 
the  living  and  the  calumniators  of  the  dead,  all  died 
in  the  odor  of  sanctity,  with  white,  forgiven  hands  fold¬ 
ed  upon  the  breasts  of  peace,  while  the  destroyers  of 
prejudice  —  the  apostles  of  humanity  —  the  soldiers  of 
liberty  —  the  breakers  of  fetters  —  the  creators  of  light 
—  died  surrounded  with  the  fierce  fiends  of  fear? 

In  your  attempt  to  destroy  the  character  of  Thomas 
Paine  you  have  failed,  and  have  succeeded  only  in  leav¬ 
ing  a  stain  upon  your  own.  You  have  written  words  as 
cruel,  bitter  and  heartless  as  the  creed  of  Calvin.  Here¬ 
after  you  will  stand  in  the  pillory  of  history  as  adefamer 
— a  calumniator  of  the  dead.  You  will  be  known  as  the 
man  who  said  that  Thomas  Paine,  the  Author-Hero,” 
lived  a  drunken  and  beastly  life,  and  died  a  drunken, 
cowardly,  and  beastly  death.  These  infamous  words 
will  be  branded  upon  the  forehead  of  your  reputation. 
They  will  be  reruembered  against  you,  when  all  else 
you  may  have  uttered  shall  have  passed  from  the  mem¬ 
ory  of  men. 


EOBEET  G.  INGEESOLL. 


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THE  BOSTON  INVESTIGATOR. 

We  hold  religious  fear  to  be  a  base,  degrading  restraint  upon  the 
human  will ;  and  in  place  of  it  would  substitute  the  true,  manly  motive, 

—  the  love  cf  virtue  and  right,  for  their  own  merits. 

We  hold  the  present  wanton  expenditure  of  capital  in  religious 

fanaticism  and  profligacy  to  be  inconsistent,  criminal,  worse  than 
useless ;  and  in  place  of  it  would  substitute  a  systematic  course  of 
Denevolence  and  universal  education. 

We  hold  that  LABOR  should  be  emancipated  from  its  degrading 
vassalage  to  Capital ;  that  all  Legislation  in  favor  of  Capital  and 
against  LABOR  should  be  immediately  rescinded. 

We  hold  that  the  present  systems  of  Banking  and  Landholding  con¬ 
stitute  two  of  the  most  accursed  monopolies  that  were  ever  invented 
to  defraud  the  laboring  classes  of  “  wealth,  liberty,  and  life.” 

We  hold  that  the  Bible,  being  the  source  of  religious  faiths,  is  also 
the  source  of  social  abuses,  which  now  hang  like  a  millstone  upon  the 
neck  of  society ;  and  that  there  will  be  no  social  concord,  r.o  true 
principle  of  fraternity  in  .society,  while  one  class  are  set  up  as  God’s 
elect,  and  another  set  down  as  God’s  vilest  reprobates. 

W e  hold  that  society  can  never  be  entirely  purged  of  its  abuses,  of 
its  monopolies,  of  its  cruel  and  despotic  customs,  until  the  Bible  and 
its  slave-holding,  man-debasing,  rum-distilling,  war-sanctioning,  and 
its  gallows-blessing  churches,  are  cast  together  into  the  sea  of 

—  oblivion. 

For  all  that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  humanity;  for  all  that  tends 
to  alleviate  the  burdens  of  labor ;  for  all  that  tends  to  enlighten  and 
reform;  for  all  that  tends  to  increase  happiness  and  lessen  miser)'; 
to  promote  good  and  discourage  evil;  and,  above  all,  for  FREE 
DISCUSSION,  tempered  with  brotherly  love,  the  Investigator 
shall  ever  continue  the  unflinching  advocate.  And  in  our  war  upon 
abuses,  of  whatever  nature,  we  shall  uniformly  endeavor  to  make  the 
proper  distinction  between  error  and  the  erring  —  between  the  sin  and 
the  sinner  ;  always  regarding  our  own  conviction  of  right  and  wrong 
as  the  only  guide,  and  measuring  that  right  and  wrong  by  the  utility 
and  happiness  they  produce  or  prevent. 

As  a  friend  and  champion  of  freedom,  in  its  most  beneficent  appli¬ 
cation,  the  Investigator  has  received  the  eulogium  of  friends  and  ^ 
the  respect  of  its  religious  opponents.  And  its  friends  may  rest  \ 


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THE  BOSTON  INVESTIGATOR. 

assured  that  no  pains  will  be  .spared  to  render  it  in  future  all  that 
they  can  desire,  and,  as  in  times  past,  much  more  than  its  compara¬ 
tively  limited  patronage  will  justify. 

A  great  many  Liberals  do  not  know  even  yet  that  such  a  paper  is  in 

existence,  and  others  who  do  know,  but  have  not  seen  it,  know  it 
✓ 

only  by  the  slanderous  reports  of  its  enemies.  We  wish  to  place  the 
Investigator  before  these  two  classes,  that  they  may  examine  it 
for  themselves ;  but,  as  we  can  of  course  know  only  a  very  few  of  them, 
we  must  mainly  depend  upon  our  friends  to  do  this  work  for  us. 
Some  are  in  the  habit  of  doing  this,  and  obtain  thereby  a  number 
of  new  subscribers.  We  appreciate  such  kindness  most  sensibly,  for 
we  know  by  experience,  that  in  our  unpopular  movement  the  man 
who  lends  us  a  helping  hand  is  no  summer  soldier  nor  sunshine 
patriot,”  but  a  brother  who  stands  to  his  post,  blow  high  or  low,  and 
looks  the  tempest  in  the  teeth.  We  have  many  such  men  on  our 
list,  and  we  are  proud  to  be  in  such  company.  To  them  and  to  all 
other  Li]>erals,  whether  old  friends  or  new,  we  would  say,  that  it  will  be 
our  constant  and  earnest  endeavor  to  render  the  Investigator  as 
good  as  it  has  been,  and  as  much  better  as  we  can  possibly  make  it. 

Connected  with  the  Investigator  Office  is  a  Book  Publishing  Office, 
from  whence  are  issued  the  works  of  many  of  the  masters  of  the  anti- 
Church  organizations  of  the  past  three  centuries.  Here  may  be 
found  the  works  of  Paine,  Voltaire,  Hume,  Volney,  &c.,  with 
many  minor  publications  of  interest  to  all  liberal  minds. 

The  importance  of  such  an  office  and  organ  for  the  use  and  advance 
of  anti-Church  opinions  will  be  perceived  by  all;  but  it  is  a  subject 
of  deep  regret  that  this  perception  of  its  vital  necessity  is  not  of  so 
practical  a  nature  as  its  merits  demand.  The  financial  connection  of 
the  paper  and  the  book  publishing  department  has  alone  enabled 
the  publisher  to  keep  his  flag  in  the  field  ;  anxiously  waiting  for  a 
more  advanced  state  of  public  opinion  to  obtain  that  patronage 
which  is  the  just  reward  of  sincere  efforts  to  emancipate  Mind  and 
Labor  from  all  oppressive  thraldoms. 

Orders  for  Books,  Papers,  Pamphlets,  etc.,  received  by  mail, 
and  forwarded  "with  despatch,  on  application  to  J.  P.  Menddm',  Boston, 
Mass. ;  or  by  letter,  post  paid. 

All  orders  must  be  accompanied  with  the  cash 


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